Elaborate online hoax targets Osteen

Updated 10:35 pm, Tuesday, April 9, 2013

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It's a news flash with an asterisk: Lakewood Church Pastor Joel Osteen has resigned from the megachurch he has led since 1999, a move prompted by his decision to leave Christianity due to his “lack of faith.”

The asterisk is needed, mind you, because the story is false — as in Internet hoax.

Whoever devised the elaborate hoax didn't just stop at a fake church website — joelostenministries.com — which is almost identical to the genuine Joel Osteen Ministries website, joelosteen.com.

The hoaxer also has put up bogus news sites trumpeting the fictitious news, replicating news outlets that include CNN, Yahoo.com and the Christian News Network. He or she also posted a fake YouTube and bogus Twitter page — twitter.com/PastorJoelOsten. Osteen's real Twitter account is @JoelOsteen.

A fake CNN site trumpets the headline, “Pastor of mega church resigns, rejects Christ,” with a subhead, “Cites lack of faith, pledges 'new church.'"

Likewise, the pseudo Lakewood Church website includes “A special message from Pastor Joel,” where a would-be Osteen elaborates on his decision:

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In the message, the Osteen poser states he has “been accused of altering the 'message' to fit my own doctrine and dogma. Others have accused me of preaching 'feel good Christianity.' I have also been accused of profiting greatly from my ministry, with my books and television deals.

“Many of their criticisms are legitimate,” the bogus message states. “What they don't know is that deep down in my heart, for a number of years now, I have been questioning the faith, Christianity and whether Jesus Christ is really my, or anyone's, 'savior.' I believe now that the Bible is a fallible, flawed, highly inconsistent history book that has been altered hundreds of times. There is zero evidence the Bible is the holy word of God. In fact, there is zero evidence 'God' even exists.”

Lakewood Church officials are aware of the “false rumor,” church representative Andrea Davis said.

“To us it was so comical,” Osteen told KHOU-TV. “We didn't think much about it except that someone's having an April Fool's joke.”

Lakewood officials told the station that if the hoaxer is found, church lawyers will ask him or her to cease and desist, but they don't plan to sue.